


Ghost roads

by SharpestRose



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Romeo+Juliet (1996)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-01
Updated: 2011-07-01
Packaged: 2017-10-20 22:09:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/217589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SharpestRose/pseuds/SharpestRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the Verona Beach challenge, using the setting from the film Romeo+Juliet. Ginny watches the ocean.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghost roads

Ginny sits beside Remus on the beach and remembers that she should not cry, lest she make the ghost roads slippery with her tears. There's a bonfire and the sound of laughter from further down, the whoops and cries of a party in full swing. The surf roars darkly, light catching the curves and dips of the wild waves. Crying probably wouldn't have crossed her mind, if she hadn't warned herself not to. She put her tears away long ago. But now, her eyes sting, and she must blink against the gritty wind and her betraying eyes.

"Almost midnight," Remus says conversationally. Ginny nods. They get along because neither of them has much to say. Everybody's doing their best to put their lives back together, and doing curse-breaking work for a couple of wealthy families seemed like the sort of thing fill the days with. Verona Beach seemed like a good place to begin the process of forgetting.

Death magic is powerful stuff, and there are layers upon layers of it tangling their employers' lives. It's dangerous, tedious work unraveling it, and Ginny and Remus have settled in for the long haul. The flat they share is cheap and old and flimsy-walled; Ginny is sure that Remus can hear how often she brings home lovers from the bars and clubs, just as she knows that he sleeps alone and restless always. They pretend to be deaf-eared to such things.

The city is like the candies Ginny used to steal from her brothers' pockets when she was very small, bright as jewels and sweet as syrup. Those candies were tricky, though, for if she savored for too long or bit too hard they would break into sharp edges. The sweetness in her mouth would turn metallic and dull as her tongue and cheeks were sliced. This city is very much like those candies.

They are both, Ginny is sure, thinking of all the souls who might be invisibly visiting them here, on this night in particular. There will be no hauntings, for all the old hurts and griefs have been put to rest. Only memories, and the honoring of those still loved and thought of.

A little girl, clothed in a white shift and carrying a lit sparkler in one hand, runs past. Giggling, she waves the lit toy around her in a shimmering arc. Ginny smiles, pushing a lock of hair out of her eyes, and watches the ocean. Morning is a long way off yet, but has never yet failed to arrive in due time, and Ginny has learned to wait.


End file.
